Leadership Blog

October 9, 2013 - The fundamental Currency of Engagement: How Energy is being used not time spent

Recent research has indicated that a large majority of managers understand the importance of employee engagement to achieving business results. Yet, further research over the last few years shows that the number of employees who report being fully engaged is decreasing to dangerously low levels. Why is this?

Early in my career, I worked for an NFL quarterback who is now in the Hall of Fame. Late in his career he was having trouble throwing the long passes downfield, and his production dropped off dramatically. The team feared his arm was “dead.“ They ran every test possible to diagnose and fix his arm to no avail. learn more

An American and an Indian are rushing to an 11:00 meeting. Just outside the meeting place, each runs into a dear friend they have not seen in 5 years. What happens? You will laugh, but culturally, the American will quickly say hello, say they are late for a meeting, and as they rush for the door, tell the old friend that they will email them to connect. The Indian, on the other hand, will stop and invite the friend to sit down for a cup of coffee. Who is “rude” in this situation? Strikes me that your answer as you are reading this is influenced by your culture. learn more

Recent research has indicated that a large majority of managers understand the importance of employee engagement to achieving business results. Yet, further research over the last few years shows that the number of employees who report being fully engaged is decreasing to dangerously low levels. Why is this? learn more

Change is something that affects everyone in today’s world, whether we like it or not. No matter what profession we’re in, our daily activities are influenced and driven by technology, differing customer demands, employee performance, and economic ups and downs. learn more

As a business consultant and facilitator working with diverse businesses in India, I have witnessed people experience almost frantic career growth in the last 15 years. Those who have begun leadership careers in times of exponential growth have seen their career graphs skyrocket, and have often grown from frontline employees to upper-middle or senior managers inside a decade, sometimes less. learn more

Operating in today’s business world is like living in the land of "Re" — something is always changing and mostly it is "re-something": re-organizing, re-structuring, re-shaping, re-framing, re-aligning, re-engineering, and so on. People have to constantly deal with the message "we’re changing again." As such, change has become a constant part of our work lives and a normal function of every leader’s role. learn more

You know the feeling . . . Low enthusiasm, low energy, not a lot of motivation. You’re tired out and feeling oppressed by "making do with less" for way too long. Chances are your employees are feeling this way too, stretched too thin and tired of putting out extra energy to cover work that used to be done by employees who are now gone. learn more

We posted a blog in 2009 titled Leading by Remote Control in which we discussed the challenges of leading a remote team. Several readers commented that they found the title troublesome since it conjured up images of a leader controlling others or purposely pushing others’ buttons. These critiques had good merit. After all, engagement research tells us that employees don’t want to be controlled. And clinical psychology research tells us we all have buttons, yet none of us wants them to be pushed by others. With all of this criticism, does the Leading by Remote Control title have any legitimacy? learn more

The recent change in Australia’s top leadership role (the replacement of Prime Minister Kevin Rudd by his deputy Julia Gillard) resulted in a myriad of articles and comments about Mr. Rudd’s leadership style. learn more

As you start out another new year, possibly with a more limited budget than in the past, you might be thinking about how to make sure you get outstanding results out of this year’s initiatives. learn more